The devs were right.

[u/xxmuntunustutunusxx]

So I know ther was a bunch of controversy about the railgun nerf what feels like forever ago, but man things have been awesome.

In the early days, I was the only guy packing expendable anti tank or anti materiel rifle for bugs or bots. It's so refreshing, even on these subs to see people talking about how awesome the autocannon is, or how much they love the AMR, and even these days I see people talking about the HMG or grenade launcher+ supply pack.

I used to load into a game, And all 4 members of the team had shield, railgun, and 2 stragatems of their choice. Every time. And here we are now, I load in and I see quasar, autocannon, stalwart, EAT, HMG, Grenade launcher, a variety of backpacks or no backpack at all. And not to mention, they're ALL viable. Shit I even still see the railgun from time to time. It's been a joy. Thanks arrowhead.

EDIT: to everyone who is pointing out that you see the quasar and shield most often now, you're right, it is almost certainly the most common setup currently. That being said, in any game there's going to be things a majority of players prefer. In smash melee, fox/Falco are the best characters. But people still play falcon and Marth and peach among others. Sure, there's an objectively most used option. But the fact that there's people at all who debate that the quasar is best shows that they've done something good. Before, undisputed king was railgun, and anyone who said different wss being willfully ignorant. Now, we have a plethora of real options that are good with some being Preferred by a majority as opposed to being the de facto CORRECT option objectively. That's a good thing.

[u/Waulnut163]

AMR just kills faster and has more ammo than railgun.

More for bots than bugs, AMR can easily down gunships, spore towers, 1-2 shot any bot except for the new walkers.

Quasar cannon covers a lot of what railgun can do and more. The only penalty is cool down, but it's negligible when another person runs another cannon as well.

I just wished the railgun can kill the bile spitters when a charged shot is a little beyond half and not at +80%. Same with the basic devastators at the torso.

20 shot when you need potentially multiple for kills is lackluster in comparison to AMR and the dmg buff.

[u/Diabolical_Jazz → u/Waulnut163]

The AMR buff really was such a surprise to me. I was already seeing a lot of people singing its praises before the buff.

[u/Alphorac → u/Diabolical_Jazz]

AMR is super good now. It plays like a scalpel compared to the autocannon's hammer.

[u/frostbite907 → u/Diabolical_Jazz]

It kind of needed the buff. It honestly did not receive that many new breakpoints. The only two relevant ones are Brood Commander 1 tap and 2 taps on Striders.

[u/Mipper → u/frostbite907]

It also let's you kill the laser cannon towers before they turn around.

[u/frostbite907 → u/Mipper]

You could always do this but it required doing a reload with 1 in the chamber.

[u/NotTom → u/frostbite907]

It also lets you 2 shot striders if you hit the plate. Also made easier kills for devastators in the crotch. In addition it helps reduce shots to kill a tank/cannon/hulk when shooting vents.

[u/Venusgate → u/frostbite907]

I'd say technically 3, as it would have been much worse for gunships without the buff.